Happy Fall everyone! Welcome pumpkin spice everything, apples, football and changing leaves! I’m so excited to welcome autumn; it is my favorite season! Just because the weather gets cooler this time of year, doesn’t mean you should move indoors. Here are some tips to warm up your backyard from your outdoor living experts: Archadeck.

Fire features are one of our favorite outdoor structures and, not surprisingly, have been growing in popularity over the last few years. Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits easily become the center point of any outdoor living space and provide enough warmth to keep friends and family outside (not to mention great to roast s’mores in). At Archadeck, we design and build custom fire features that complement your existing outdoor structures.

If having a permanent feature on your property isn’t an option, but you’d still like to have an outdoor heating option, there are some choices. Propane fueled outdoor heaters are available in a number of sizes and can easily be added to or removed from a space very easily.

For some homeowners a fire feature or outdoor heater may be too much to add to their outdoor spaces, but you can still stay warm. Have a few warm blankets available for you and guests and you can still enjoy your backyard. Since it’s fall, look for blankets in warm reds, yellows and oranges.

When all else fails, have a warm drink for people to sip on outdoors on a cool night. It doesn’t need to be anything difficult, just delicious. Here’s a great apple cider recipe to enjoy:

What you’ll need:

8 cups apple cider

6 cinnamon sticks

1 orange

2 T whole cloves

Rum (optional)

Poke holes around the oranges and poke cloves into the holes. Place the orange in a crock pot with the cider and cinnamon sticks. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add rum to each glass as desired.

This is an all too familiar sight: a backyard with a small concrete slab off the back of the home as the only true outdoor living space. As you can see with the fire pit, Adirondack chairs and outdoor dining table, these homeowners enjoy spending time outdoors. While there isn’t a lot of backyard space to work with, they needed to update what they had. Archadeck of Charlotte created the perfect patio design for the size.

The clients on this project knew there wasn’t a ton of space to work with, but they felt like their existing outdoor living areas were disjointed, primarily because some of it was on the grass. They were willing to lose a lot of the grass space as long as the new outdoor living structure felt open and addressed their current design dilemmas.

The patio designers at Archadeck laid out this curved paver patio that gives them all they wanted without losing their entire yard. The owners were clear in their desires: space to eat outdoors as well as a built-in fire pit around which to sit.

When planning the space it was clear that a standard square or rectangular patio wouldn’t work. Significant space was needed to fulfill the owners’ outdoor needs, but squaring it off would take up too much space leaving them with no lawn. It also may have resulted in less flow to the patio. By curving the edges of the patio, it gives a it a clear direction, not to mention it gives it a little more style and makes it feel more open.

By moving the fire pit closer to the home and making it a permanent feature, it not only gets more use but also becomes a focal point in the backyard. The feature was finished in the same paver color and design as the patio. A wide edge around the pit was created to give it more weight and provide additional seating when the fire isn’t lit.

Patio designs should be created with the homeowner in mind as each one is different and will use the space in their own way. At Archadeck Outdoor Living, we pride ourselves on getting an idea of what our clients’ dream backyard would entail and create a space around it. If you’d like to discuss improving your outdoor living space, please contact your local Archadeck Outdoor Living office.

Last month, my husband and I went to a friend’s home for dinner. It seemed to be a nice night so we ate outside on the open patio. Shortly after dinner was served, we felt a few raindrops begin to fall. It wasn’t a lot of rain, but enough for me to consider picking up my dish and going inside, but without saying a word, the host got up and retracted an awning from the house, providing just enough protection from the rain.

Awnings are great outdoor living features for residential and commercial properties alike because of their versatility. Some homeowners want a space that provides for both sun and shade, but they have limited square footage to work with. Or, an owner may want a covered patio but doesn’t have the budget for the roof structure. In both of these cases, awnings would be an option.

Awnings are installed to the home’s façade and can be built in a variety of sizes to fit the outdoor living space. They retract from the home to create a strong canopy above a deck or patio and are available in both manual or electric.

At Archadeck Outdoor Living, we always design outdoor living spaces that work together; no component looks like an afterthought. With all the fabric and color choices you can choose for your awning, it is sure to complement your home façade’s color as well as the color of your outdoor furniture and accessories.

The benefits of an awning are plenty. The most obvious benefit is that it creates both an open and covered outdoor living space that can be changed as needed, but did you know it can impact the inside of your home? Awnings were incredibly popular on both windows and doors as well as outdoor living spaces 40 to 50 years ago because of how they impacted the home’s temperature. Awnings can reduce the heat making it inside of the house, reducing cooling costs.

Our trained Archadeck Outdoor Living designers can help you decide on which awning configuration will fit your outdoor living needs. Please reach out to your local Archadeck office with any questions you may have.